The gloves worn while participating in sports such as ice hockey are typically large and heavily padded to provide protection for the hands of the wearer. As a result, ice hockey gloves are bulky and do not easily compress, making them awkward to deliver and display in a retail display environment. Gloves used for skiing or snowboarding are similarly bulky and difficult to display.
In the past, hockey gloves have been shipped from the manufacturer or wholesaler to the retailer in large boxes, each glove or pair of gloves being contained within a plastic bag. The retailer then removes these bagged gloves from the box and prepares them for presentation on the retail floor. One simple method of displaying the gloves is to place them loosely in a box or bin. This forces the shopper to sort through a pile of gloves in order to find the right size or style glove and makes it more problematic for the retailer to keep matching pairs of gloves together. Alternatively, the gloves can be loosely laid on shelves, however, this also does not solve the problem of keeping pairs of gloves together. Yet another method is to hang the gloves from clips provided on a conventional hanger normally used for hanging clothing.
The above-described methods, in addition to being awkward to sort and search through, fail to present the gloves to the consumer in an aesthetically attractive way. It is important to many retailers that their products be displayed to shoppers in a way that attracts attention and facilitates selection and purchase. This is particularly true in the market for consumer sports equipment, where style and appearance factor heavily into the purchasers' decision-making processes.
Another method for displaying hockey gloves has been to use skewers or rods 12 protruding orthogonally from a wall 10 of a showroom. This method of display is illustrated in FIGS. 1a-1b. While this method may be more effective than the previously-described method at drawing attention to the particular glove 14 being exhibited, this method also has shortcomings.
First, when a glove 14 protrudes out from a wall 10 directly in front of the customer, the customer views the glove 14 from an odd perspective, revealing only the tops of the finger portion of the glove 14. From a user's or potential buyer's point of view, however, the primary profile of a hockey glove is the portion of the glove covering the back of the hand and the first set of knuckles. This backhand portion is the portion that is normally seen by others when the glove is in use. Accordingly, this backhand portion of the glove is typically where a manufacturer's name or logo is placed, and is where many of a glove's stylistic or design features are concentrated. When the glove 14 is mounted protruding horizontally from the wall 10 at eye level, the primary profile generally cannot be seen unless the glove is removed from the rod 12.
A second problem is that only one glove 14 is supported by each rod 12. Accordingly, if the retailer wishes to display more than one glove 14 at a time, each glove 14 must be individually placed on a separate rod 12. A related problem is the difficulty in displaying multiple pairs of gloves using this method. The store must provide a wall with multiple skewers 12 protruding therefrom. Because each skewer holds only one glove, the retailer must incur additional costs for providing two skewers 12 for each pair of glove. Next, someone must individually place each glove on each skewer. Some method must also be developed for effectively keeping pairs of gloves together.
A further disadvantage of this method for displaying gloves is that the purchaser of the gloves does not receive any storage device for the gloves when they are brought home from the retailer.
Another method for hanging gloves is illustrated in FIG. 2. Here, a hanger 20 is provided having two arms 22a-22b. Loops 24a-24b are provided on the gloves 26a-26b and are used for hanging the gloves 26a-26b upside-down from the arms 22a-22b. For the purposes of this discussion, the bottom end 27 of a glove 26a-26b is considered to be the wrist portion of the glove 26a-26b, where the wearer's hand is inserted. The top end 28 of a glove 26a-26b is considered to be the finger portion of the glove 26a-26b. Accordingly, a glove 26a-26b displayed with the wrist portion above the finger portion is considered to be upside-down.
While this hanger 20 more effectively displays the primary profile of the gloves 26a-26b, the gloves 26a-26b are simply suspended such that they hang loosely from the rack 20. This loose dangling is not conducive to dense packing of the gloves 26a-26b, which is important during shipping of the gloves 26a-26b to the retailer. Nor does such a method allow for high-density display of the gloves 26a-26b on the retail floor. Additionally, this type of rack can only be used with gloves 26a-26b that are provided with hanging loops 24a-24b.
Accordingly, there is a clear need for an improved method of shipping, displaying, and storing bulky gloves, such as hockey or skiing gloves.